Poverty summit aims at bringing equality to Eau Claire

Eau Claire (WQOW) - You may remember the recent study from the United Way showing 13% of people statewide live in poverty. Those numbers also showed 51% of people in Eau Claire struggle to get by.

Community leaders have taken notice, and Thursday night the non-profit Clear Vision is hosting a poverty summit, which is the first of seven meetings aimed at helping improve life for the less fortunate in Eau Claire County.

The group told News 18 they do not know all of the issues in the community, so they are hoping people make it out to one of the meetings with ideas of what can be done to help.

Mike Huggins, with Clear Vision Eau Claire, said they realize poverty issues cannot be fixed immediately, but they envision a wealthier community in the future.

"It's an issue, and it is time we dealt with it as a community, because it is a community issue," Huggins said. "Those types of things drag us back from being the community we want to be."